Tag: Disability

My View in Buffalo News: Positives and Negatives of Smartphones are Tough to Sort Out.

My View in Buffalo News today: Do you remember phone numbers, paper maps, or life before Siri? 📞🗺️ Our cell phones have become our “external hard drive,” but I wonder if our brains need a little more exercise too. No phone shaming here—I love FaceTime, GPS, and all the benefits… Ok, let’s ask Siri if I’m right! Habits are hard to break🤣

Rocking Babies in the NICU: Bringing Comfort and Connection to Newborns

Volunteering as a NICU Baby Rocker, I comforted fragile infants in a Level 4 NICU, providing essential touch and care. Touch is crucial for newborns, especially for those too weak to leave the incubator. Despite fears and mishaps, the experience was rewarding. My daughter’s own challenges inspired me to give back, and I am grateful for the privilege.

Balancing Personal and Professional Goals as a Parent  of Child with Special Needs

Parenting a child with disabilities impacts personal & professional life. Achieving balance requires thoughtful strategies and adjustments.

Letting Go: The Group Home Decision

This is our group home story. A decision woven with uncertainty, love, and, ultimately, acceptance. Was the group home decision also a decision of Letting Go? These are frequent questions I receive from families and podcast hosts, and a story worth sharing. How we went from It’s Never Happening to a Leap of Faith. An […]

RV Trip Part Two, Fun Facts and a Surprise Ending

OK, now that we got all the repairs, hospital visits, and other nonsense from my last blog out of the way, I want to let you know about the good parts of the trip, Fun Facts and a surprise to both of us. Rocky Mountain High We drove through the twisty, turny Rocky Mountains to Grand […]

Music Therapy Becomes A Love Language

Music is our daughter Jessica’s love language. She speaks it fluently. Jess is 41 years old, nonverbal, and has a rare genetic deletion (1Q 43-44). She lives in a group home with five other women who have become family. (Article in Today’s My View ) Jacob is Jessica’s music therapist and part of a local […]

Who’s (Really) the Boss? Distinct Roles in Marriage

A year has passed since we took our Winnebago EKKO RV (KanVan) for a spin across the northern plains of America. We are planning another trip, and I am exhausted from all the work. It’s not my work; I basically do nothing.
Distinct Roles in Marriage. Mitch navigates the roads across the country; I navigate the roads of services for Jess. Who’s the Boss?
#raisingJess #family #travel #RV #EKKO #disability #decionmaking

What the Exit Interview with our Son and Daughter Revealed

So, how did we do? Why not conduct an exit interview when your adult offspring move out of the house. The intention is not for us to do a better job with our future children , but to get a fair assessment (can this really be fair and honest?) of how we did as parents.

What My Mother Knew That Took Me 20 Years to Find Out

My Mom was a big fan of my writing and said, “you should write a book. But I was too busy to write a book. I had a full-time job, three kids, and three dogs at home. Jessica, as documented in many blogs, needed help with every daily life skill.